Observations of Magnetospheric Solar Wind Charge Exchange

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ringuette, R., Kuntz, K. D., Koutroumpa, D., Kaaret, P., LaRocca, D., Richardson, J.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866914991188213760
author Ringuette, R.
Kuntz, K. D.
Koutroumpa, D.
Kaaret, P.
LaRocca, D.
Richardson, J.
author_facet Ringuette, R.
Kuntz, K. D.
Koutroumpa, D.
Kaaret, P.
LaRocca, D.
Richardson, J.
contents The study of solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) emission is vital to both the X-ray astrophysics and heliophysics communities. SWCX emission contaminates all astrophysical observations in X-rays regardless of the direction. Ignoring this contribution to X-ray spectra can lead to erroneous conclusions regarding the astrophysical plasmas along the line of sight due to the similar spectral distributions of SWCX and several common types of more distant astrophysical plasmas. Since its discovery, literature has distinguished between diffuse SWCX emission resulting from solar wind neutral interactions within the terrestrial magnetosphere, called magnetospheric SWCX, and similar interactions occurring more generally throughout the heliosphere, called heliospheric SWCX. Here, we build upon previous work validating a modeling method for the heliospheric SWCX contribution in X-ray spectra obtained with a medium resolution CubeSat instrument named HaloSat at low ecliptic latitudes. We now apply this model to a specially designed set of extended observations with the same instrument and successfully separate the spectral contributions of the astrophysical background and the heliospheric SWCX from the remaining contributions. Specifically, we find significant excess emission for four observations in the O VII emission line not explained by other sources, possibly indicative of magnetospheric SWCX. We discuss these results in comparison with simulation results publicly available through the Community Coordinated Modeling Center. We also report an absorbed high-temperature component in two of the twelve fields of view analyzed.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2306_17732
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Observations of Magnetospheric Solar Wind Charge Exchange
Ringuette, R.
Kuntz, K. D.
Koutroumpa, D.
Kaaret, P.
LaRocca, D.
Richardson, J.
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Space Physics
The study of solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) emission is vital to both the X-ray astrophysics and heliophysics communities. SWCX emission contaminates all astrophysical observations in X-rays regardless of the direction. Ignoring this contribution to X-ray spectra can lead to erroneous conclusions regarding the astrophysical plasmas along the line of sight due to the similar spectral distributions of SWCX and several common types of more distant astrophysical plasmas. Since its discovery, literature has distinguished between diffuse SWCX emission resulting from solar wind neutral interactions within the terrestrial magnetosphere, called magnetospheric SWCX, and similar interactions occurring more generally throughout the heliosphere, called heliospheric SWCX. Here, we build upon previous work validating a modeling method for the heliospheric SWCX contribution in X-ray spectra obtained with a medium resolution CubeSat instrument named HaloSat at low ecliptic latitudes. We now apply this model to a specially designed set of extended observations with the same instrument and successfully separate the spectral contributions of the astrophysical background and the heliospheric SWCX from the remaining contributions. Specifically, we find significant excess emission for four observations in the O VII emission line not explained by other sources, possibly indicative of magnetospheric SWCX. We discuss these results in comparison with simulation results publicly available through the Community Coordinated Modeling Center. We also report an absorbed high-temperature component in two of the twelve fields of view analyzed.
title Observations of Magnetospheric Solar Wind Charge Exchange
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Space Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.17732